Hush, Little Angel
by Cloverleaf Neverseen
Summary: Takes place during S2. A month after Clementine, along with the cabin group meet up with Christa and Omid, Rebecca dies in labor, leaving Alvin broken up and her baby in the care of the group. Christa is given the role of mother, but sees her child in Rebecca's. She tries to do her best, but the constant reminder of her child can be to much to take. C/O A/R (Written before S2 EP2)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Yes, I know the cabin doesn't have a basement. Let's pretend it does. Basically, I was thinking about what effect Rebecca's baby would have on Christa (if she turns out to be the person Clementine thought was dead, which she is in my story). OMID NEVER GOT SHOT. I REPEAT: OMID NEVER GOT SHOT.**

**Also, this contains a bit of a hardened Clem near the ending, like you can play her in S2. Most people call her 'Scumbag Clem', but she's not at that level yet. She didn't steal the watch in ep. 1, either. Sarah is a bit more aware of what's going on, since judging by the preview for 'A House Divided', she seems to be aware that Carver's group is dangerous. **

**And finally, there's not much backstory for Carver's group, 'cause we don't know much about him, AND the fact that it's sort of from Christa's point of view, and she probably wouldn't know much about him. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Walking Dead. **

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><p>"Aww… FUUUUCK!" Rebecca shouted, slumping down up against the basement walls. The guys had ordered the women and Pete (who was missing his leg) down to the basement while they fought off Carver's attacks. Rebecca had gone into labor barely an hour ago, and the only ones of them who had the least bit of medical experience were Pete, who only knew a bit of first aide, and Christa, who had been an intern in a cancer unit.<p>

Each of them were given jobs; Pete was checking Rebecca's dilation, Christa was pretty much a mid wife, keeping her calm, and Clementine and Sarah were paramedics, looking for as much as scissors to cut the umbilical cord or blankets for Rebecca and the baby.

"I found a blanket!" Sarah announced, holding up a blue blanket.

"Good, bring it over!" Christa told her. Then, she turned to her side. "Clementine, have you found anything?"

Clementine shook her head. "This basement's empty! Wait…" She ran over to the corner and pulled out what appeared to be a worn out mattress. "I found this. We can move her!"

So then, the next few minutes consisted of Rebecca swearing in pain, Pete falling several times, Christa clenching her fists, and Sarah trying to distract Rebecca by telling her about her body snatcher book.

"God… it hurts… I gotta push…"

"I know, push!"

"NO YOU FUCKING DON'T!" This struck a nerve in Christa. She furiously turned back to the bedridden woman.  
>"I do! I have given birth before!" No one said anything. Rebecca just kept grunting and pushing. All of the sudden, Pete broke the silence. "There's… there's something wrong!" He held up his blood covered hand with a panicking face on.<p>

"Oh my God…" Rebecca whimpered shocked. She continued to push.

"Rebecca! Don't push! Something's wrong!" Pete yelled.

Rebecca screamed loudly in pain.

"I'm not gonna make it." she whispered. Sarah looked from her to Christa.

"Yes you are! You _have _to! For Alvin and the baby!" Sarah told her exasperated. Rebecca shook her head and grasped the sides of the mattress.  
>"No I'm not… I know what this means…" Rebecca looked up at Christa pleadingly. "I know you have Omid's knife. <em>Use it<em>. I'm not losing my baby." Her face was red and contorted with pain.

"No." Christa shook her head quickly, running her hand over the pocket that held the sharp knife.

"_Yes_. You have to cut me open."

"No, I can't!"

Pete nodded at Christa. Clementine looked down sadly. Sarah looked appalled. "I'll go for help!" Clem yelled, standing up.

"**NO!**" Rebecca protested. "It's too dangerous! Carver's men are in the house! Just… just tell Alvin I'm sorry."  
>"I don't know how to do this! I don't have equipment or medicine or <strong>anything<strong>!" Christa had shakily pulled Omid's knife out. He knew how to use it… she needed him right know, but he was in the house, fighting with Carver's men.

"You won't survive." Clem told her quietly, looking at the sharp knife. Rebecca didn't care. "But the baby will… That's all I care about. Please…" She let out another yelp as a contraction hit her. "Fuuuuck! DO IT! Please, Christa! PLEASE!"

Rebecca's shaking hands lifted up her shirt. "See this scar?" she pointed to scar that was barely visible in that light. "It's from my first marriage… my first baby, Allen… he was with my ex when this shit started. Cut there, Christa. Please, cut me open and save the baby."

"No… I can't." Christa's voice was thick with tears. She couldn't…

"You have to. Sarah?" Sarah looked up. "Tell Alvin I love him, alright? Take care of him… Tell your dad I'm sorry for all the trouble I caused. Clementine, Christa, Pete… take care of my baby. Take care of Alvin. I'm sorry."

Christa placed the knife over Rebecca's old scar. _It would be just like when she cut off Lee's arm… It wouldn't be that bad, right? _"God forgive me…" she whispered.

Rebecca took a deep breath and grabbed Clementine's hand to squeeze. Christa pressed down and sliced across.  
>"<strong>AHHH!<strong>" Her scream reverberated off the basement walls, shaking the house, or at least the room. The blood poured out and her skin ripped.

"You're KILLING HER!" Sarah screamed, throwing her hands over her eyes. "I don't wanna watch!" Clementine had looked away because of the blood. Rebecca's entire body shook like she was having a seizure, and then it went limp.

About two minutes later, Christa pulled it out, eyes brimming with tears as she laid her eyes on the precious little angel… it looked just like her sweet little Saige.

The baby was crying immediately and Pete wrapped her (because by then, they had determined she was a she) in the dark blue blanket, just a moment after Christa sliced the umbilical cord with her knife.

"We need to -"

**BANG! **

Clementine had pulled the trigger on her gun, and a bullet whizzed through Rebecca's skull.

"I'm so sorry…"

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><p><strong>1 Hour Later<strong>

The basement door opened with a bang. Omid was standing above the trap door.

"Those fuckers… they left though. Is Rebecca alright?" Omid jumped down and walked over to where Pete was sitting. He saw Rebecca's body. "Oh my God."

"We had to…" Sarah whispered, not looking up. She had been sheltered so much by Carlos, it was hard for her to see even the most minor amount of blood, much less watch a woman get cut open, and then shot in the head.

Christa looked up at her boyfriend. Her tears had spilled over already, just looking at the baby. The little baby wouldn't stop crying, and it was making Christa's head pound as images of Saige_. The one she failed._ Her little angel's mangled body… bleeding and chunks of flesh missing. It was enough to drive her to the brink of insanity.

Omid crouched down by Christa, who threw her arms around him, letting out choked sobs. Omid could see the baby in Pete's arms – and quickly made the connection to Saige.

"Are you thinking about -" Christa nodded mutely, still trying to stop the flow of tears. Clementine hadn't said a single thing since shooting Rebecca. One of the things she remembered Rebecca saying was, "I love the names 'Tamara' and 'Saige'. Do you think they would go good together?" and Clem had just smiled and nodded, since Christa made her swear not to tell anybody about Saige. It reminded her of when she'd first met the couple.

When Clementine had been talking with Christa, back at the railroad, she had been a bit reluctant to reveal personal things like her job or what she did when corpses weren't walking around. Revealing anything apart from her name was no-no in her eyes, so no one, apart from them, knew about Christa and Omid's child.

Maybe that wasn't the best decision they ever made, but then again, they could have used it against them, and that wasn't good. Especially after Christa learned that they had locked Clementine in the shed after she'd been bitten by a dog, and made her stitch up her own arm.

Alvin and Luke followed Omid down the stairs. "Bec, how are you -" Alvin stopped in his tracks when he saw the broken and sliced body of his wife.

"No… no…" Alvin fell to the floor on his knees. "Becca… Bec…" Luke looked like he was about to vomit.

"It's a girl, Alvin," said Pete quietly, offering the gurgling baby to her father.

"NO! Get that _thing _out of my sight! IT KILLED HER!" He leaned over Rebecca's body and Pete looked over at Christa and beaconed for her and Omid to come to him.

"Can you take her to Carlos?" without waiting for an answer, he thrust the infant into Christa's arms, and limped over to Alvin, who was sobbing over Rebecca's sliced body. Slowly, Christa stood up and began to walk towards the basement's trapdoor, still wishing the baby would stop crying, and trying to ignore the bundle of life in her arms. Omid offered his girlfriend (though he said, "We've had sex so many times we should just consider ourselves married.") a sympathetic look, and held his arms out mutely. Christa shook her head, and climbed out of the trapdoor with one arm.

The house was a mess; bullet holes covered the walls, the couch, table, and chairs were all knocked over, and the dead body of a man lay on the ground. Also, with a bullet hole through his head. Carlos was sitting in one of the chairs he'd turned over, bandaging what appeared to be a cut or bullet wound.

"Is she…?"

"Rebecca… didn't make it. Clementine put her down." Carlos's eyes were full of pity and concern, and he took the small baby from the woman.

"It's a girl." Christa barely managed to get these words out. The others, sans Alvin and Pete, came out of the basement. Nick was missing.

"Where'd Nick go?" Clementine wondered aloud. Luke pointed out of the window.

"He's burning the bodies." Sure enough, there was a man wearing a baseball cap, standing over a large fire, burning a body.

"What about _that _man, papa?" Sarah asked, pointing to the man that each of them (except her) recognized to be Carver.

"I think he forgot." Sarah walked out of the room and down the hallway, towards Rebecca and Alvin's room, and then came out a minute later, holding what appeared to be a chart. One side was labeled GIRL and the other BOY.

On the girl's side, 'Tamara' and 'Saige' were circled. On the boy's, 'Ivan' and 'Rowan' were circled.

"Rebecca liked Tamara Saige. She said so. Let's call her that." Christa's insides seemed to freeze with some sort of numb shock when she heard those names. Tamara was nice enough, not one she particularly liked, but Saige… It just HAD to be Saige?!

"Are you alright, Christa?" Luke asked, noticing her uneasy look. Omid wrapped his arm around her waist.

"We knew a girl named Saige… We were close." Luke seemed to think this was a suitable answer, because he didn't say anything.

"Where's Pete?" Nick asked, opening the door.

"The basement. Rebecca didn't make it… he's with Alvin."

A few hours later, Luke and Nick removed Rebecca's body from the basement while Omid and Clementine attempted to dig a hole. They managed to get Alvin's few words that he said to be a baby name. He didn't care, so now, the baby's name was Tamara Saige, though Sarah had nicknamed her Mara.

Pete managed to find the baby formula (as well as diapers) Carlos had found a few months before, and shook it up in a bottle, before handing it to Christa.

"What the hell do you want me to do with a bottle of formula?" Christa asked, hands on her hips. She wasn't going to pretend to be Rebecca to Mara. No way. She didn't think she could…

"It's to feed Mara. What'd you think? She was gonna feed herself?" Mara was laying on the couch, letting out noises that sounded like choked sobs. Christa looked back at the infant, mama bear instincts rising up. She sighed, and then snatched the bottle out of Pete's hand. She sat down on the couch, and then slowly picked her up.  
>Mara felt so soft… and those beautiful amber eyes looked so innocent. Like nothing could ever extinguish the flames of childhood innocence... of love, and fragileness. Christa cradled her head, popping the nipple of the bottle into her mouth, pretending for a moment that Mara was one of those dolls she and her two sisters had begged their mother for them as a child, or that one doll that she and Omid had to care for during 11th grade.<p>

Christa couldn't believe her mind hadn't wandered to Saige. Well, technically, it had, if you counted that one thought, but quickly, she shoved it away.  
>Without realizing it, Christa began speaking to Mara softly. "You like that, don't you baby? You look just like my daughter, Mar. I miss her so much, but at least you're here, sweetheart." Christa could feel tears welling up in her eyes. It was hard enough for her to be around Clementine at times after Saige's death, let alone another infant.<p>

Mara's tiny little face was still a reddish brown hue, but the resemblance to Rebecca was uncanny. She was her mother's child, even if she did look a bit like Saige.

Suddenly, Christa heard a small child's voice in the back of her head.

_"What about me, mama? Don't you love me anymore? Do you really wanna replace me?"_

_Saige…_

And then, Christa remembered Pete was still sitting just a few feet away at the table. Slowly, Christa pulled the bottle out of Mara's mouth and set it back onto the couch. She had no idea what to do next.

"You've gotta burp her." Pete's voice came again. "You don't know that?"

"No," Christa said, completely forgetting that she and Omid were posing as Clementine's parents. "I've never raised a child, Pete." Pete raised his eyebrow, moving one of his crutches.

"I thought you said you and Omid were Clementine's parents?"  
>Christa's head flicked up as she laid Mara on her shoulder, patting her back gently.<p>

"Er – yeah, adoptive parents, technically. We've been taking care of her for the last two years. I mean, it's not like she calls us mom and dad or anything, we've just been taking care of her." She was determined not to get caught in her lie.

"Oh. You're better than nothing." Christa went back to patting Mara's back, wishing she go ahead and burp already so that she could put her down.

Finally, after several minutes, she heard a small burp. So then, she wrapped Mara in her blanket and set her back on the couch, going outside to help her boyfriend and charge.

Rebecca's funeral was quick. Everyone just said a few words, and they marked her burial spot with a few rocks, the largest reading 'Rest in Peace, Rebecca' in Alvin's untidy marker handwriting.

Then, he stayed out there in the cold, sitting at her fresh grave site.

Luke, Nick, and Carlos came up with a plan to look for extra supplies, as there were other cabins around, that until a few days before, had been occupied by Carver's men, other survivors they refused to acknowledge, or walkers ("Lurkers," said Luke in a matter of fact tone. "They're called _lurkers_.").

Omid even decided he wanted to make himself useful, and proclaimed that he wanted to come along.

"Maybe you take the baby shift." Carlos suggested, though he really didn't want Omid to come along because he didn't like him all that much. He said that Omid was cracking dirty jokes at Sarah, but everyone doubted that, as _Christa _was more likely to crack a _dirty _joke, whereas Omid just liked Chuck Norris jokes.

So eventually, the four men set off in a truck, leaving Pete, Alvin, Christa, and the kids alone. Clementine was sulking in one of the armchairs because Christa hadn't allowed her to go with the men, but Sarah was making silly faces at Mara, trying to get her to laugh.

"Sarah, she's not even a day old. I don't think laughing is physically possible…" Pete interrupted, grabbing his crutches. "Anyway, I'm going to check on Alvin. He's just been sitting there talking to air. The poor guy…"

So the older man hobbled outside to join Alvin. Talking to air hadn't bothered Christa the way it had before the apocalypse. Clementine had done it plenty of times in the first few days after she and Omid found her in the fields. She would claim she could hear Lee responding. It made her feel bad, but there was nothing they could really do about it.

"Do you think Alvin'll be okay?" Clementine asked quietly, looking out the window. Pete had sat down next to Alvin, who was clearly arguing with him.

Christa shook her head. "I don't know, sweetheart. He's pretty broken up. If… if he can't even take care of Mara… I don't know how…" She cut herself off, knowing that Alvin would eventually come to his senses. He had too, right? Even if he was broken up about Rebecca, there was no way he could ignore Mara for longer than a day or two. He'd come to his senses soon enough.

Eventually, when Clementine and Sarah left the room, and Pete and Alvin were still outside, Christa was absentmindedly rubbing a scar on her thigh.

She remembered that when she had gone to look for firewood, one of the bandits that had interrogated her – Winston, Christa had heard someone call him – stabbed her in the thigh, and she and Omid had run in a different direction than Clem, not realizing it.

When they were found, it was Carver's group who had found them, and took them hostage. They stitched up her leg, but held the couple prisoner, ripping out the stitches when Christa displeased them. The first time they had done it, one of the men had attempted to molest her, pulling her pants down around her ankles, but Christa had kicked him in the face, so he dug his sharp, dirty nails into her stitches and ripped them out. Omid would be tied up in a chair and beaten up, just for a stress reliever, and he was a small guy, so it wasn't like he could withstand it. Then, Carver's group had somehow met up with Carlos's, while the two had their hands bound behind their backs, bruised and bloodied.

Christa knew they were quite lucky to have just made it out alive. The group (with lots of begging from Clementine) had given Carver and his men and manly women food and supplies in exchange for her's and Omid's freedom. It was as if they had discovered a cure for the apocalypse itself – and she had never hugged someone (i. e. Clementine) so hard in her life.

Mara's tiny hands slipped down Christa's shirt, as though to say, "Hey, I thought I got milk from there, not the round thing!"

"That's not for you," Christa chuckled, pulling the tiny hands out. The door opened and in came Alvin and a hobbling Pete.

"Hey…" Alvin whispered hoarsely. "Can I…?"

"Oh, yes. Sure…" Alvin sat down next to Christa and held his arms out for his daughter. Christa carefully swaddled her and handed her over.

"She looks like Carver."

"She probably _is_ Carver's." came Clem's voice. Christa looked up to see Clem standing in the doorway, grimacing. "That night – when I first came here – I was looking supplies in the bathroom… And I heard her coming. I hid in the closet, and Rebecca came in. I heard her praying. She said, 'Please just let it be his.'" Alvin gulped and looked down at this tiny infant. Clem looked back at him sadly and shrugged.

Before she knew it, Christa had sprang up off of the couch, and grabbed Clementine by her arm (not the one Sam bit her on, the other one), before dragging her into the hallway.

"Clementine, _why the hell did you just -"_

Clem cut Christa off. "Because he deserves to know the truth! I'm tired of lies, Christa! I'm sick and tired of them!" Christa's shoulders sagged and she sighed, annoyed.

"Listen to me, listen closely. I know it's hard, but that doesn't mean you can tell a man that his wife, who _just died, _none the less, was cheating on him! Save it, Clementine. He doesn't want to know that!"

"Then why did he say Mara looks like Carver? I think he wanted to know!"

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><p><strong>Let me know if you think I should continue. This was sort of an experiment fan fiction, after I was reading a thread on the Telltale Forums, 'Rebecca's baby: Switcheroo', which is where I got the idea "Rebecca dies, Christa takes care of the baby". Go ahead and see if you can find it (I'd check the 4th or 5th page) if you want to read it. If it's not really the best, I'll likely take it down. I just want to know what you guys think. :-) <strong>

**~Clover**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hi guys! Clover here! This chapter is much shorter than the last one, so sorry about that, but I hope it's just as good. Thank you to all the people who reviewed. I really appreciate it. :)**

**Disclaimer: Don't own it.**

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><p>Omid and the others came back to the house a few hours later, with not only a bassinet, but dinner too. So Mara was wrapped in a blanket, asleep in the bassinet when the entire group sat down for dinner. Except Alvin.<p>

"He's in his room," said Luke, taking a seat next to Omid. "Apparently Rebecca… slept with Carver and –"

"Luke," Carlos warned, jerking his head towards Sarah and Clementine. "We don't need to talk about sleeping with other people at the moment. And we already know."  
>"Oh. Alrighty then, I'll just shut up." And Luke shoved a large piece of his fish into his mouth, laying his other hand on the mahogany table.<p>

It was an odd dinner that they'd brought home – fish, berries, and a duck, but it still tasted good, none the less.

"What we need to talk about," Carlos began again. "is who's going to take care of Tamara. Any volunteers?" No one raised their hand except Omid, who grasped Christa's and pulled it up.

"Well. That was settled quicker than I thought it would be. Christa, Omid, you guys are in charge of her well being. Treat her like you treat that daughter of yours."

Christa nodded, knowing he was referring to Clem. "Don't worry… We will."

The truth was, Christa had no idea how they were going to do just that. What if… what if she ended up like Saige, dare she think of it? What if she wasn't a good mother figure –? Because she had to admit, she hadn't been the best mother to Clementine…

"We still need Alvin's input. He _is _her… Should I say father or step father? Is she Carver's or not?" said Nick, picking at one of the berries on his plate. "Seriously. Someone fuckin' tell me."

Omid shrugged. "For now, let's just go with father. The poor guy's got enough on his shoulders without worrying about who Mara's father is. Has he eaten?"

Pete swore. "I _knew _I was forgetting something!"

"I'll take him a plate," Clem volunteered. "I've got some things to say, anyway."

Christa looked over from Mara to Clementine. "It'd better be that you're sorry for upsetting him."

"Yes ma'am." Clem gave a little mock salute and stood up. She went over to the counter, where the rest of the food was and piled a fish, a piece of duck, and several berries on the stained plate, before grabbing a fork and a knife. "I'll be back in a minute."

She left the room and went down the hallway towards Alvin's room. No one said anything for a moment, but then there was a loud crashing, Clementine letting out a surprised scream, Alvin shrieking, "GET THE FUCK OUT!", and Clem running out with a terrified look on her face, with pieces of fish and duck stuck to her shirt as well berry juice staining several parts.

Then, Alvin poked his head and arm out of the room and flung the butter knife towards the table. It landed right where Omid's hand had been only seconds ago and stuck straight out with a thump.

"Alvin!" Carlos yelled, standing straight up. "That is MOHOGANY!"

Clementine didn't pause until she was in her seat next to Christa and Mara's bassinet.  
>"He – he shoved the plate into -"<p>

"It's okay, Clem," Omid practically shouted, turning towards the room. Alvin was gone, but Omid had a feeling this wasn't going to be the last time something like this happened. "That was NOT cool. What did you say to him?"

"I said I was sorry for saying that stuff about Carver… He looked at me, flipped the plate out of my hands, and told me to get out. I think he hates me." Clem shook her head quickly and shoved as many berries as she could into her mouth. "I rone."

"What?"

Clem swallowed the berries. "I'm done." She dumped what was left on Omid's plate and left the room.

Carlos reached over and pulled the knife out of the table. "Damn it… This table's valuable."  
>Christa scoffed. "I find it <em>hilarious <em>that you value your table over Clementine's safety." Omid nodded in agreement and muttered, "Asshole…"

"I don't… You… Ugh." Carlos put his head in his hands. "I can't win today, can I?" He sighed. "I _will _be speaking to Alvin about this, mark my words."

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><p>Omid leaned back into the arm chair by the fireplace, groaning softly as he buried his face in his pillow. Christa was sitting up on the couch with Clem laying next to her, wrapped in her blanket like a caterpillar in a cocoon.<p>

Mara had her bottle in her mouth and was in Christa's arms, giving off soft whines. In truth, Christa wasn't even sure if Mara was drinking the milk or if she was just sucking on the nipple for comfort. If Mara was her biological child, she'd be breast feeding, because that (according to several articles she'd read while she was pregnant with Saige) was suppose to be better for both the baby and the mother, but unfortunately, it had been too long since Saige's death to wet nurse.

Omid bid her a goodnight kiss ("Eww…" Clem moaned, shielding her eyes) and curled up in the armchair, so after a few minutes, his snores became the loudest thing in the house.

Clem was staring into space (or she was sleeping with her eyes open) when Christa finally managed to get Mara to sleep. She placed the infant back in the bassinet with diapers and formula just a few feet away, and then laid down on the couch.

"Are you awake?"

"Yeah."

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Clem turned over to where she was facing the couch cushion and pulled the blankets closer to her. "I can't sleep, though."

Christa sighed, but didn't tug back on the thick covers. "It's been kind of hectic, hasn't it?"

Clem nodded sadly, but didn't say anything. Christa sighed again and peered over at Omid. He was knocked out.

"Are you gonna forget about me, now that you've got a baby?" came Clem's small voice, which sounded surprisingly worried. Christa's eyes widened.

"Of… of course not! Why would you think something like that?" Clem shrugged.  
>"Just wondering." Christa bit her lip. Clem had told them she'd felt quite neglected when they were caught up in their baby drama while Christa was still pregnant. This must have been what Clem was referring to.<p>

Clem sat up and leaned back. "I don't want what happened that time to happen again. You guys are all I've got left." Christa put her arm around the little girl.

"I'm sorry, Clem. I don't want you to feel like that…"

"I think that's why my real mom and dad didn't have another baby. 'cause they knew I'd feel like that. Mom said she couldn't have any more kids, and I felt bad, but I was kinda happy, because I didn't want them to love me less. It's stupid, though." Clem shrugged and pulled the covers over her head.

"This couch sucks."

"It's better than sleeping on the ground, Clementine."

"'least the ground is bigger."

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><p><strong>AN: Thanks for reading. Hope it wasn't crap. :)**


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